Dayplaying For a Friend
by canibeyourotp
Summary: It's the second day of college, and Alex wants Jay to meet his new friends. Jay is, understandably, freaking the hell out. 2006!verse oneshot, Jay/Seth pre-slash. (How many people actually ship Jeth?)


**There's not enough for this pairing. Maybe it's just my interest in the Marble Hornets cast, pre-Eldritch Abomination, but it makes sense to me that you'd pair the two cameramen together!**

**(I'm also painfully aware that I have no idea how to operate a camera. Sorry for butchering the terminology, film students.)**

* * *

Alex comes jogging up to him on the second day. He looks far happier than he should do. "How's classes been?" he asks, grinning from ear to ear.

Jay shifts his bag to his other shoulder. The books in it are causing the strap to dig into his skin. "They've been... okay," he says carefully. "I guess at the moment it's all introductory stuff, you know? So we haven't made a lot of progress-"

"It's the second day," Alex cuts in, giving him an amused look. "Did you think we were going to jump right into things?"

"Well-"

"You little workaholic," his friend laughs, clapping him on the back. "C'mon, Mr. Obsessive. Let's go grab some lunch. We've got our new film class next, right? That's together. I've already met some of the people in our class, I could introduce you."

"Oh no," Jay protests, as Alex drags him towards the canteen, "I don't want to do that. Besides, I'm, um, not hungry..."

"But what if we have a project later on and we're grouped with a bunch of strangers? That'd be really awkward. Wouldn't it be best to get it over with?"

Jay stutters to a stop, his thoughts racing - how can he put this in a way that won't make him sound like a complete wuss? He doesn't want Alex to be disappointed with whichever choice he makes, but it seems like that's going to be the outcome regardless of what he does. "I don't..." he starts. "I don't want to, uh..."

"What?" Alex presses. "What's the matter?"

"I don't want to embarrass myself - or you," he adds, staring at the floor, "in front of people that you're gonna be working with. I mean, I'll be working with them too, but you're gonna be directing and talking and things, and I don't want to make life harder for you."

Alex stares at him incredulously for a moment. Around them, college students rush through the open space like ants; all are oblivious to the fact that Jay would rather _not_ meet people, thank you very much, and definitely not people who are Important to Alex's Filmmaking Dreams. "What are you talking about?" he says, snorting. "You idiot. I know you want to pull off the Silent Camera Guy type thing, but these people are nice!"

And so Jay begrudgingly follows Alex to the canteen - he _definitely_ doesn't almost change his mind and run away when Alex stupidly mentions the 'pretty girl' - and watches silently when Alex locates his new friends. New friends... the thought makes his stomach twist. Alex is pretty much the only guy he knows at college, and Jay doesn't want to lose him. He's not very good at talking to people, and he's actually starting to panic a little bit now; what if he loses the comfortable friendship he and Alex have fallen into?

He glances around the table, trying not to make his actions too frantic. He first lays eyes on the 'pretty girl' that Alex mentioned - she's waving at Alex as they approach, and she's leaning against another man. He's got short hair, all brown, unruly curls, and he looks like he could KO Jay in one punch.

"Hi," Alex says, and Jay's chest clenches tightly.

"Hey, Alex, come sit down!" the curly haired man grins. "You brought someone?"

"Yeah, I did." Jay is pushed forwards. He feels like a deer caught in headlights, but he can't bring himself to bolt to the safety of the other side of the road. "This is Jay. He's in our film class, and he's being a bit stupid about meeting you all."

Jay feels his cheeks heating up - seriously, Alex, why did you have to say it so bluntly - and accepts the man's outstretched hand.

"I'm Brian," he says, the smile still plastered on his face. He looks like he's genuinely thrilled to meet Jay, which puzzles him, because Jay is a scrawny guy who looks like he's about twelve, and he's really not that exciting at all. "My brother took film class a couple years back, and he says it's pretty cool. I've been looking forward to it ever since I applied."

Alex takes a seat, leaving Jay standing awkwardly. "This is Sarah," he says, gesturing to the pretty girl.

"Hey," Sarah says brightly.

"Oh," Alex continues, "and this is Seth."

Jay follows Alex's finger, which happens to be pointing at a man at the end of the table. Seth has sandy blond hair, and a posture that doesn't seem to be used to being tense; he shies away from the attention nervously, looking as though he'd rather disappear through the floor than be noticed. He seems to have been doing a fairly good job of avoiding everybody's eyes and concentrating on eating. Sarah glances over to him, raises her eyebrows, and yanks him into a normal sitting position.

"I think you two are gonna get along fine," she says, rolling her eyes.

Jay slides into the seat next to Alex, opposite Seth. "...Oh. Did she mean _me_?" he asks Alex, but Alex is too busy talking about different types of staging in theatre work with Brian to notice.

"Theatre," he mutters disdainfully, taking a bottle of Mountain Dew out of his bag. Jay wishes he understood the appeal of acting, but he's not good at it, and getting behind the science of it is quite difficult unless it's got something to do with operating a camera. He unscrews the cap of the bottle with uncoordinated fingers, and takes a swig, failing to notice the stare he was receiving.

"...You know what a C47 is?"

Jay realises far too late that he's left his notebook on the table from rummaging around his in bag; he splutters on his drink slightly, feeling the bubbles fizz painfully down his throat, and tries not to look like a complete idiot. "Um," he chokes, hastily screwing the cap on. "I don't think you're supposed to say clothespin now. I was just trying to..."

"Use proper terminology, yeah," Seth murmurs. "Can... Can I have a look?"

Jay wordlessly turns around his notebook, barely pushing it over the halfway point of the table, and hopes to high hell that his handwriting is legible to people other than him. "It's just set up stuff," he shrugs.

"I can't believe you know what a T-stop is," Seth replies honestly, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, you know it too?" Jay asks. "Alex doesn't know the difference between a T-stop and an f-number."

"What are you two talking about?" Sarah asks, leaning over. Jay dares to smile.

"I feel like I'm dayplaying for a friend," he tells Seth. He's rewarded with a burst of laughter from the man opposite him, and an amused sideways glance from Alex.

"Well, you two hit it off quickly."

"Told you they'd be okay," Brian smirks. "Look, they're even talking camera stuff that we wouldn't understand. Next thing we know, they'll be having hushed conversations in private, ditching us to go talk _lighting and focus_..."

"Don't be mean," Sarah giggles, as Jay and Seth flush an identical scarlet.

Alex shoots him a knowing look, looking like he's holding back laughter, but he doesn't say anything, and resumes his conversation with Brian and Sarah about acting skill.

"I'm Jay," Jay says.

Seth nods, smiling, and Jay doesn't feel as nervous anymore. As they discuss Jay's notes in more depth, he can't help but hope that he gets to sit near Seth in their film class, and the thought alone makes him smile from ear to ear.


End file.
